Apparently, few are heeding Barbara Brotman’s call to recognize that CTA overall does a pretty good job: “Come on, people: We all have our beefs. But Chicago’s buses, subways and “L”s are a great urban amenity that lets us live in, work in and enjoy Chicago in ways that define the city. And with the CTA proposing major cuts unless the state fills its $55 million budget deficit, it’s a good time to say so.”

Over half the respondents to a Crain’s online poll today say they’d blame CTA, not Daley, Blago, the Assembly, or the feds, if the doomsday cuts occur. This despite $200 million in annual cost savings already achieved at CTA–while the state gives not a penny, RTA sales tax revenues have been shrinking by $10M a year (real dollars), the city give the same $3 million it gave in 1983 (“disgraceful,” says Ald. Preckwinkle), and the feds have pulled back on roughly $30 million a year in operating assistance while imposing immensely costly (almost $100M a year) unfunded mandates through ADA, security, et al.

I’m getting increasingly frustrated with people, especially the disabled “activists” or the anarchists at the various budget hearings, laying into CTA and screaming about waste while demanding even bigger handouts. Okay, people, if you’re so smart, why don’t you go and find the waste? Let’s have a constructive discussion here, instead of screaming about blame.

Meanwhile, DJW is echoing what Greg Hinz from Crain’s has hinted at: a CTA bailout may involve a state takeover of paratransit, perhaps with some merger with Pace’s paratransit operations and squeezing Medicaid dollars to pick up the cost of some rides. (This makes eminent sense: Pace runs a tighter paratransit ship, splitting city & suburban paratransit is silly, and human services should be funded through human services funds, not mass transit funds.)

However, the timetable for a grand overhaul of the funding formula has been pushed to 2006. A few notable things should happen by then: first, Pace’s finances will probably be in an equally tight spot, bringing service cuts to the suburbs. (Pace is already engaged in some creative accounting to balance its budget.) Second, perhaps suburban Cook legislators will understand that dumping the formula is more in their interest than standing behind Metra’s city-bashing scare tactics. Third, maybe there’s time to continue to build support within the business community, which unfortunately (despite some noises from MPC and Metropolis) hasn’t realized that transit is vital to the economic fortunes of Chicago and Illinois. Indeed, a recent Crain’s article by Gregory Meyer makes it seem as if the Chamber of Commerce is a bit indifferent about service cuts that would absolutely eviscerate services (especially in the mid-north/Old Town and Evanston) for the countless corporate drones living along the north lakefront:

[Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce president & CEO Jerry Roper is] willing to accept higher fares and longer commute times rather than a tax-related stop-gap measure that fails to address the region�s transit funding problems.

“Businesses can vote with their feet,” Mr. Roper said. “At the end of the day, if in fact businesses get upset enough where they�re opposed to this, they can start thinking about relocating. Then those employees don�t have to worry to worry about a CTA fare hike � they don�t have a job any longer.”

Roper and other business leaders believe the solution to the CTA�s crisis lies in fixing the complex funding formula that divides up tax revenue among the CTA, Metra rail and the Pace suburban bus service.

Business leaders say there�s no question the CTA�s slate of cuts would harm firms, raising employee costs and hampering productivity…

Worse transit service could also prompt more commuting by car, slowing down goods movement, Mr. Roper said.

Less frequent service and cancelled routes � including rush-hour express buses from Union Station and the Ogilvie Transportation Center and Purple Line Express el service � could in the long term even make commercial tenants think twice about locating in the city…

Supporters of longer-ranging reform must first overcome mistrust from suburban leaders who view transit funding as a zero-sum game. That may not happen this legislative session.